“We need the tonic of wilderness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.”

- Henry David Thoreau

A Great Place

Rust Sanctuary is 68 acres of diverse habitat right in the heart of Leesburg. With wonderful walking trail that have nice sitting benches, you can do some birding, nature exploration, photography, journaling, and more.

The walking trails run through forests and meadows and down to a large pond where you can enjoy the banjo calls of Green frogs, the peeps of Spring Peepers and wonderful calls of other amphibians.

Picnic tables are available near the Manor house and you can enjoy a stroll through the gardens that surround the house. A pollinator garden near the Manor House is a great place to spot a variety of butterflies and bees.

In addition to leading various habitat restoration projects at Rust, we use the facilities for a number of our Loudoun Wildlife nature programs.